The HUD Secretary's Opportunity & Empowerment Award honors excellence in community planning that has led to measurable benefits in terms of increased economic development, employment, education, or housing choice and mobility for low- and moderate-income residents. The award stresses tangible results and recognizes the planning discipline as an important community resource. It emphasizes how creative housing, economic development, and private investments are used in, or in tandem with, a comprehensive community development plan.

The HUD Secretary's Opportunity & Empowerment Awards was presented on April 16th, 2013, at the American Planning Association’s National Planning Conference in Chicago, Illinois.

Ohkay Owingeh, New Mexico

The Owe’neh Bupingeh Preservation Plan will be recognized with the HUD Secretary's Opportunity and Empowerment Award for the rehabilitation of housing and infrastructure within the historic village center of Ohkay Owingeh, New Mexico. Several hundred homes once surrounded the village center, but only 60 remain, many of which were abandoned due to deterioration. The Owe'neh Bupingeh Rehabilitation Project is a multi-year, affordable housing, rehabilitation project within the historic core at Ohkay Owingeh that aims to balance preservation, housing quality, and green design. The award honors the Ohkay Owingeh’s comprehensive preservation plan that has guided practical housing improvements according to cultural values, such as the rehabilitation of 20 homes using traditional earthen construction methods and the renovation of infrastructure within the village center. The project has successfully provided families with culturally-appropriate, quality affordable housing and has generated tribal discussions of larger cultural preservation issues. The plan has also been heralded as a model planning effort for Native American communities in historic settings.

The HUD Secretary's Opportunity & Empowerment Awards was presented on April 16th, 2013, at the American Planning Association’s National Planning Conference in Chicago, Illinois.

Augusta, Georgia

The Laney Walker/Bethlehem Revitalization Initiative will receive the HUD Secretary's Opportunity and Empowerment Award for addressing disinvestment and blight in two historic African American neighborhoods in Augusta, Georgia. In the years prior to the initiative, the revitalization area was plagued by crime, approximately 70 percent of the area’s properties were deemed to be blighted, and the population was declining by three percent annually. The Laney Walker/Bethlehem Revitalization Initiative is a large scale (1,100 acres), long-term (50 years) revitalization effort that is anticipated to provide housing for approximately 10,000 residents for a total investment of $2.8 billion, create 38,000 new jobs, and result in total investment into the local economy of $4.5 billion over the next five decades. The award recognizes the disciplined, deliberate planning process that has resulted in a master plan and site plans for seven priority development areas, market studies assessing how best to attract a broad mix of residential and commercial users, and a guide to ensure that historic designs and sustainability principles inform new construction.